Dubai Office Sales Surge 200% to Dh15.8bn But Q2 Tells a Different Story

Dubai's office market booked Dh15.8 billion in sales during the first half of 2026, close to triple the same period last year and double the whole of H2 2025, according to Cavendish Maxwell. Transaction count rose 38% to 2,600, with off-plan taking 65% of the market.

The high end went vertical

More than 220 offices sold above Dh20 million in six months against just 20 across the entire previous year. Roughly 95% of those were off-plan. Average off-plan pricing more than doubled, climbing 133% to Dh8.3 million per office from Dh3.5 million. Ready offices moved more modestly, up 14% to Dh3 million.

Then Q2 cooled

Transactions dropped almost 36% from Q1, with prices and rents easing slightly. The pullback landed mainly in the ready segment.

Vidhi Shah, head of commercial valuation at Cavendish Maxwell, noted that while annual indicators stayed positive, the quarterly trend points to moderation, and the market has entered H2 under more uncertainty. She said the coming months will hinge on geopolitics, the supply pipeline and the depth of occupier demand and that Q3 will reveal whether Q2 was a temporary wobble or the start of something broader.

Supply stays tight

Only 92,300 sq m of new office space was delivered in H1, lifting total stock to 9.46 million sq m. Another 150,000 sq m is due by December, then 379,000 sq m in 2027 and 718,000 sq m in 2028. Cavendish Maxwell expects constraint to persist through 2026, since construction delays routinely push early-stage completions back.

Where the deals happened

Business Bay led with 814 transactions, pushing Al Sufouh 1 (498) into second. Jumeirah Lakes Towers logged 333, Dubai Maritime City 88 and Barsha Heights 82. The top five accounted for over 70% of all activity.

Sale prices rose 15% year-on-year to Dh2,012 per sq ft; rents climbed 14% to Dh189 per sq ft annually. Both eased marginally quarter-on-quarter. Steepest rent increases: Downtown Dubai (17.5%), Barsha Heights (17.2%) and DIFC (17.1%).

On unit sizes half of off plan sales were sub 1,000 sq ft, with growing appetite for units above 2,000 sq ft. In ready stock, the 1,000–2,000 sq ft bracket dominated at 53%.

What it means

Commercial is now the tightest segment in Dubai property, and the mirror image of residential: offices are supply-starved while apartments face a handover glut. That's why office rents are climbing 14–17% while residential rents have turned negative.

The caution is that off-plan drove 95% of the record deals. Those are commitments against buildings that don't exist yet — and Cavendish Maxwell has already flagged that delivery timelines slip. If occupier demand softens before completion, the exposure sits with buyers, not the market.